Getting Ready To Go....

First off, a little about me...

My name is Rodger. I spent a few years doing IT work in Henderson, Nevada. In 2003, my wife got a job in Fort Collins, Colorado, so we moved. Unfortunately, my skills just aren't marketable here. I spent months trying to find a job, but finally had to settle for a job working in a restaurant just so we could have more money coming in. This past February, I went back to my roots, sucked up my pride, and went to work for a call center. Call centers suck, but I have much more talent for that work than I do for the food service stuff.

So... Being tired of working my ass off at a job with no real future for peanuts wore me down. Hard. Looking through the classified ads and networking with people in town haven't shown me that there's really anything better for a person like me. I'm in a rut. So I decided it was time to do something drastic. Driving a truck has not exactly been my lifelong ambition, but it's something that I have not done and it promises to have much more potential than anything I could do around here. Fortunately, my wife supports my decision 100%. Neither of us are thrilled about spending weeks apart at a time, but our relationship is strong enough to handle that.

I applied with Schneider, CR England, and Stevens Transport. All three have offered me jobs. I initially had my heart set on Schneider because they have a great reputation for training, but the recruiter told me that they only hired teams in my area of the country. Since I had my heart set on solo driving, this was a problem.

CR England offered me solo driving, but the whole process felt a little oily. They were just in too much of a hurry to get me in the door, if you can relate to me there. It just didn't feel right, and I really don't like the way they push the lease on you. Nor do I like them taking the tuition from your paychecks.

Stevens Transport also offered me solo driving. I even got a tour of the school that they contract with here in Colorado. It's a little father and son operation out in Keenesburg (itty bitty farming town a little northeast of Denver), but I was very impressed with the way that they run the place.

Stevens is now the leader. Until I get a call from a potential Schneider teammate. We got on the phone and spent probably 45 minutes to an hour interviewing each other. We then met in person and spent another hour interviewing each other and laying down some VERY tentative ground rules.

He seems like a good guy and we have the same goals. Since Schneider found a teammate for me who seems compatible and since teams are paid quite a bit more than solo drivers, I decided to go with Schneider.

I went and got my DOT physical and drug screen and passed my Colorado CDL permit test (thanks, Pumpkindriver.com!!). Got everything faxed in and got word that my teammate got his stuff squared away, too. So we're set to go out to Fontana, California for school. It begins on September 23rd.

Now I just have to wait for the call on Tuesday to find out when my bus is leaving...